A pleasant hike. The route is very well marked with cairns and it is difficult to get off track. This is one of Colorado 14er's more conveniently located trailheads as it is located on a paved road. Enjoy your hike and then treat yourself to a 4 star dinner in Aspen. Your body has earned it, no doubt.

Late start and clouds were building throughout the day but it never rained or thundered--great day climbing with my brother, his first 14er. A little snow near the summit but no need for gaiters. Came from sea level, climbed to 12,800 the day before, and had no real altitude problems on La Plata. A great nontechnical climb. Can't wait for the next CO trip!

Praise to the Fourteener Initiative for all their work on the trail. It is among the most solid and well-defined I have encountered on a Class 2. Scenic trail: we saw 2 rainbows early in the a.m. and there were thousands (literally) of colorful mushrooms spotting the forest floor. The views were awesome too, of course.

Great hike.. this is a long day for sure, but very beautiful. Very few spots of snow on the NW ridge route, but did have a short fun glissade on the upper mountain. It even flurried a bit on the way down

A birthday present from my daughter was a climb up the SW ridge route. The scree climb out of the basin and the bouldering to 13,900 took us longer than expected, but it was a dynamite climb. Only two other climbers on the mountain that day. Decent weather, but windy up top. 14er #25 for me, #17 for her.